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Wood v. Groh6/9/2000
Appeal from Lyon district court, W. LEE FOWLER, judge.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
The primary question in this appeal involves the civil standard of care required of those persons having ownership or control of a firearm. The defendant parents kept a .22 caliber handgun in their home. Their minor son obtained the gun and later accidently shot the plaintiffs' minor daughter. In the plaintiffs' personal injury action against the parents, the jury was instructed that the standard of care required of the parents was that of reasonable care. However, the standard of care required in this state is the highest degree of care. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
On the afternoon of May 27, 1995, Ed Groh, age 15, used a screwdriver to open his father's locked gun cabinet and removed a .22 caliber handgun. The gun was not loaded; however, the loaded ammunition clip, as well as additional ammunition, was stored in the cabinet along with the gun. Ed took the gun and ammunition to a friend's house where he and some friends drank beer and practiced "target shooting with some cans." Later that night, Ed went to a party at the Archdekins' house. There were no adults present at the party. Ed carried the gun with him and showed it to others at the party. Sarah Wood, age 15, arrived at the party around midnight. Both Sarah and Ed consumed alcoholic beverages at the party.
At about 1:30 or 2 a.m., Ed left the party to drink more beer at another friend's house. He returned to the party and at approximately 2:30 a.m., as Sarah and Ed proceeded up the stairs at the Archdekins' house, the gun accidentally discharged, striking Sarah in the left buttock.
Sarah and her parents, Linda and Warren Wood, filed suit against Ed's parents, Derry and Choon Groh, alleging negligent parental supervision and negligent safeguarding of a gun. The Archdekins were also named defendants in the suit but were dismissed on summary judgment and are not involved in this appeal.
Trial testimony established that Derry Groh had taken his son target shooting with the gun five or six times. Derry specifically forbade Ed from using the gun without strict parental supervision. Ed knew that he was not to take any of the weapons from the cabinet without Derry's permission. Derry was the only person with a key to the gun cabinet and he kept the key on his personal key ring at all times.
Linda Wood testified, however, that Ed told her that Derry knew he had the gun and that Derry knew that he occasionally took the gun from the cabinet and shot it. Testimony also revealed that Ed had been arrested prior to the shooting for taking someone's car without permission and "joyriding." Under the terms of his probation from that incident, Ed was not to possess a firearm without the permission of his probation officer. Derry took Ed target shooting with the gun shortly after the joyriding incident. Ed had a curfew of 11 to 11:30 p.m. on weekends, which he violated by being at the party well past midnight on the night of the shooting. Neither of the Grohs knew where Ed was the night of the shooting.
A jury returned a verdict in favor of the Woods, finding the Grohs 10% at fault, Sarah 20% at fault, and Ed, who was not a party to the lawsuit, 70% at fault. The jury awarded $100,000 in damages to Sarah and $9,162.50 to her parents, Linda and Warren Wood. Judgment was, therefore, entered in favor of Sarah in the amount of $10,000 and in favor of Linda and Warren in the amount of $916.25.
The Woods raise two issues on appeal: (1) whether the district court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that the Grohs owed the highest degree of
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